Improvement in fly-flaps



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

'IOBIAS ROYER, OF LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEM ENT IN FLY-FLAPS.

Specificatie.A forming part of Letters Patent No. 57,384, dated August 21, 1866.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, TOBIAS ROYER, of Lancaster, in the county of Lancaster and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Mode for Constructing Coverings to Protect Horses against or from the Annoyance of Flies, commonly called Fly-Nets77 or Fly-Flaps 5? and I do hereby declare that the followingisafull and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanyin g drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a view of the interwoven strands forming my plaited fly-flap. Figs. 2 and 3 illustrate the manner of plaiting; Fig. 4, on the horse.

The nature of my invention consists, simply, in plaiting the horizontal cross-strands into and with the longitudinal strands, instead ot' using slits or holes punched through said longitudinal straps or strands. These are found liable to slip, even when cut so as to enter obliquely, unless the slits are so small as to render it a tedious business to slip the flat or rounded leather through them,req uirin g more time to do so than the plaiting, which takes but very little more leather, and I nd I can make them much faster and with less perplexity than by any of the other methods heretofore in use among saddlers; and while they can be made ornamental, the plain braiding is very neat, strong, and the strands cannotslip, and both the novelty and utility of this mode of manufacture meets with favor among saddlers and the public generally.

After various trials and experiments in order to perfect my idea, I have succeeded in bringing it to a practical utility, readily understood by a single lesson or the study of my diagram, to accompany the sale of my invention.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe the method I have adopted and manner of plaiting, which, however simple when seen, and after some'practiceexpeditiouslyexecuted, it is more difficult to explain in words without reference to the diagrams.

The longitudinal strands or straps 1 2 are usually in pairs, and about nine, inches apart and about tive feet long, one end of the pair either left unitedor both held by a tack on the table. The ilat-tened or rounded leather strips--say six feet long-being at hand, (the end ones are usually shorter,) I commence with 1, (call it A,) at a point, say, twenty-two inches from one enduintroduce it between the longitudinal straps l 2, and plait it with them, as shown by the letters and figures, and pass it out on the opposite side to that on which I commenced. The remaining portion of strap A may now remain, and the strap B introduced and interwoven in like manner, and so on to the number of fifteen, (more or less,) as shown in Fig. 1 by the alternate red and blue strands, the strands advancing forward on being plaited into the next parallel longitudinal strands, of which four are shown in said gure. (It is the same whether three or tive are used, in principle.) Thus it will be seen that the first strand, A,or No. 1, has advanced four points, which leaves four shorter pieces (marked and 0) to be plaited into the cross plaits or braids uniting the hind and front ends of the longitudinal braces or braids; and as N o. 15 runs out at the other end on the side opposite, there will be four spaces to be supplied by the shorter pieces gi, and 0, in like manner.

The rings It are secured at the forward corners of the outer longitudinal braids, and can be introduced at other desirable points.

The neck and head flaps are usually made separate, simply by bringing the longitudinal strips to approximate and shortening the strands to the required length of the parts employed.

I find I can also plait with three longitudinal strands, which, for cord-work or small` rounded leather cording, answers well; but being more tedious, without a corresponding benefit, I simply mention and illustrate by Fig. 3 as being a part of the result of my experiinenting.

I am not aware that ily-nets, as they are commonly called, or ily-flaps, have ever been made by plaiting thehorizontal into or with the longitudinal straps or cords. I am aware that there is no special novelty in the plaiting, independently considered 5 but, when applied in the manufacture of fly-ilaps, it introduces a new mode to the trade. Whether these fla-ps are made from leather or other materia-1, flat and longitudinal cords or bands with or `into or round,and platited or braided,substantia1ly each other7 substantially in the manner speciin the manner specified, I deem as my introed and shown.

duction and discovery. Therefore,

What I claim as my invention7 and desire l TOBIAS ROYER' to secure by Letters Patent, is Witnesses:

The manufacture of iiy flaps or nets, when UHAS. R. FRAILEY, "'I Inade by plaiting or braiding' the horizontal JACOB STAUFFER. 

